Welcome to Beloved Conversations!
Within Update:
The Fall Term 2024 of Within is CANCELED. We look forward to learning with you in Spring 2025! Meanwhile, read on to learn about Within and why working on ourselves for antiracism is part of lifelong faith formation.
Among Update:
We regret to inform you that we will not be accepting applications from new congregations to the Among program for the Fall of 2024. Our current Among congregations will continue for their second (or more) year of the program. Additional updates will appear in this space when they are available. Please contact us at belovedconversations@meadville.edu with any questions or concerns.
About Beloved Conversations Virtual
Beloved Conversations is a program for people seeking to embody racial justice as a spiritual practice. Our program is grounded in Unitarian Universalism, developed and offered by the Fahs Collaborative at Meadville Lombard Theological School, and open to all learners. In Beloved Conversations, we are here to heal the impact of racism on our lives, in order to get free together.
We are proud that our traditional, in-person version of Beloved Conversations was offered in more than 250 congregations across the continent over the past decade and are grateful that so many communities have made our program a part of their faith formation and social justice work. In 2020, we reimagined the program for an expanded audience, with the greater accessibility and reach of a virtual platform.
The newest version of our curriculum is Beloved Conversations Virtual, which includes many updated and improved new features.
Grounded in Unitarian Universalism, and open to all learners, with many updated and improved new features, this curriculum offers:
- A digital format that increases accessibility for many users
- An opportunity to engage in different styles of learning and processing
- A developmental approach, that works to meet learners where they are and move forward together from there
- An explicit commitment to centering the spiritual needs of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC+), including explicit resources developed to meet the intellectual, historical, and spiritual needs of BIPOC+ living in a world (and religious communities) that privileges white cultural norms
- A framework that acknowledges and honors the spiritual nature of this work and is clear that racial identity formation and a deep understanding of racial justice are essential to our personal and collective religious development
Beloved Conversations Virtual is a program in several parts:
- WITHIN (launched Fall 2020, for individuals; open to all): Focused on the individual, personal learning and development that we each need to do. Run in two separate courses: one for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) called Gathering Our Selves, and one for white people called Un/Learning for Liberation
- AMONG (launched Fall 2021, for congregations whose members have participated in Within): Focused on the institutional, systemic anti-racist change needed in our congregations and religious communities
- BEYOND (IN FUTURE DEVELOPMENT, for congregations who have participated in Among): Focused on our collective work for racial justice, in partnership with our local communities
More than 3,000 people from all over the United States, Canada, and the world have participated in Beloved Conversations Virtual in our first years of these new programs. In Gathering Our Selves, BIPOC are building community and focusing on our spiritual needs. In Un/Learning for Liberation, white people are learning the spiritual skills necessary for eradicating white supremacy culture in ourselves and in our wider systems. And in Among, congregational leaders are identifying ways that the systems and cultures of their congregations do not align with our Unitarian Universalist values and are working to transform them. It's collective liberation in action!
Do you have questions? Ready to join us?
We are here to help! You can email belovedconversations@meadville.edu with any questions or for help with accessing the program.
During the Within registration period and at the start of each term, the volume of inquiries increases significantly. We do our best trying to respond as quickly as possible, but it might take longer than usual. We appreciate your patience!
